To curb fake news, WhatsApp to limit message forwarding to 5 chats in India

New Delhi: Amidst efforts to clamp down on circulation of fake news, instant messaging app WhatsApp on Friday said its users in India will not be allowed to forward more than five chats at once.

The company will also remove the quick forward button on the media messages, Whatsapp said in a blog.

WhatsApp has received flak from the Indian government over fake news and false information being circulated on its messaging platform. Such messages have incited mob-fury, triggering multiple cases of lynching across the country.

Yesterday, the government shot off a second notice to WhatsApp asking it to come out with effective solutions to curb the menace of fake news beyond just labelling forwards.

It also warned the company that mediums used for propagation of rumours are liable to be treated as ‘abettors’ and can face legal consequences if they remain “mute spectators”.

WhatsApp had previously stated that it had launched new safety features, including a label that clearly identifies forwarded messages and controls for group conversations in the last few weeks.

Rumours on WhatsApp have sparked off a spate of incidents involving mob fury, including one where five men were lynched on the suspicion of being child lifters in Maharashtra’s Rainpada village of Dhule district.

More recently, a man was beaten to death, while three others were injured after a mob attacked them suspecting them to be child-lifters, near Bidar in Karnataka.

The Supreme Court too has asked parliament to consider enacting a new law to effectively deal with incidents of mob lynching, saying “horrendous acts of mobocracy” cannot be allowed to become a new norm.

With PTI Inputs

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Source:Zee news

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